We noted one year ago a heart-rending case of indigenous peasants in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas dying after eating a stew of apparently poisonous mushrooms. The peasants were driven by hunger and failed harvests to gather wild mushrooms (which have little nutritional value in any case). Another such tragic case was reported earlier this month, with the ominous conclusion that the mushrooms of Chiapas are mutating—explaining how indigenous inhabitants who know the local flora intimately could make such a fatal error. From AP, Aug. 4:

From La Jornada, Aug. 10 via Chiapas95 (our translation, links added):

Iguala, Guerrero -- During the term of Vicente Fox, the Mexican government has not complied with recommendations of the UN to instate consitutional reforms on the rights of indigenous peoples, as mandated under the San Andres Accords, decried the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the left-populist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) raised the stakes in Mexico's electoral standoff July 26 by declaring himself "the president of Mexico." Cesar Nava, a spokesman for candidate Felipe Calderón of the ruling National Action Party (PAN) dismissed the claim as "messianic." (Seattle Times, July 27)

From Mexico's La Jornada, July 24, via Chiapas95, our translation:

The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) and the narco-traffic in Chiapas "are factors that affect the national security," says an internal document of Superior Center of Naval Studies (CESNAV) of the Secretary of the Navy.

From La Jornada, July 15, translation via Chiapas95:

In a large and violent operation - according to witnesses - the police of Yucatan arrested last Thursday in the community of Caucel more than 40 Maya ejidatarios [communal farmers], who were protesting peacefully against construction works imposed by the government of the PANista [governor] Patricio Patron Laviada in communities next to Merida, among them an airport - still in progress - in Hunucma, whose inhabitants have reiterated that they will not allow the dispossession of their land.

Marking their completion of 10 ten years in prison, the two accused Zapatista collaborators being held at the state prison in Tacotalpa, Tabasco, began an indefinite hunger strike July 10 to demand their liberation. The prisoners, Angel Concepcion Perez Vazquez and Francisco Perez Gutierrez, say they are also demanding the release of the peasant protesters detained in May at the village of San Salvador Atenco in Mexico state, and all political prisoners in the nation of Mexico. A group of Chol Maya campesinos have also launched a permanent vigil outside the prison in support of the prisoners. Release of the Zapatista political prisoners is a key demand of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. (La Jornada, July 11)

From the New York Times, links and annotation added:

MEXICO CITY, July 6 — Felipe Calderón, a conservative former energy minister, won a narrow victory in the race for president today after election officials finished their official tally, but his leftist rival vowed to go court and demand a recount.

From the Mexican news agency APRO, June 27, via Chiapas95 (our translation):

Toluca- The first penal judge based in Tenang del Valle formally brought charges against 13 of the 21 police detained by the Mexican [state] prosecutor in the Atenco case.